From generation to generation, the ever-increasing ranks of women find satisfaction (and no shortage of challenges, too)
in their legal life
By Janine Robben

In 1993, the OSB Bulletin sat down with a small group
of women who became members of the Oregon State Bar in 1973 and 1983 to talk
about their experiences with gender bias.

Recently, the Bulletin invited the same women back for
an afternoon roundtable, and added a morning group of women with Oregon bar
memberships from 1993 and 2003.

The "mommy track" was a hot topic of conversation — ’03
graduate Sharnel Mesirow called it "the scariest question out there."

The issue is still quite real: a study publicized just two
weeks after these conversations took place concluded that "Mothers are
still treated as if they were a third gender in the workplace," with
mothers only half as likely to be hired as childless women or men with
or without kids. (Boston Globe, "A Third Gender in the Workplace," by
Ellen Goodman, May 11, 2007).

But — the more-experienced women lawyers advised their
younger colleagues — there is very real hope for women in our profession.

One of them, Neva Campbell, was a 40-year-old mother before
she even looked for her first law job — and went on to become what
is now megafirm Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt’s first woman lawyer
and its first woman partner.

Pamela Knowles, who was told she would be off the partnership
track if she became a part-time mom, part-time lawyer, made partner at what
is now Davis Wright Tremaine while working part-time. And Jody Stahancyk,
who was warned against leaving work to raise kids, did just that and now
runs law offices in five Oregon communities.

What was new, in this 2007 discussion, was a sense, among the
older lawyers, that being pioneers was challenging, exciting and even — looking
back — kind of fun. And both groups shared the understanding that the
downsides of the profession — the 80-hour work weeks and the pressure
to look and act a part — can be as hard on some men as it is on some
women.

ABOUT THE AUTHORJanine Robben has been a member of the Oregon
State Bar since 1980 and is a frequent contributor to the Bulletin. She
facilitated the two conversations that follow, both held on April 27,
2007 at the Oregon State Bar Center. Nancy Morgan of the Oregon Court
Reporters Association reported and transcribed the discussions. The transcripts
have been edited for clarity and length.